Gaming

Dell is throwing in a year of onsite or in-home repair service at no additional cost. The Alienware m15 R4 is the newest gaming laptop from Dell and not some older configuration on clearance.

Razer has launched a new retractable stainless steel staw, complete with a carrying case and a cleaner. It is packaged as the Razer Reusable Straw and costs US$20 on Razer's official website. The company says that straw is s part of its "go green with Razer" initiative.

The massively-popular PUBG Mobile has finally crossed the magical 1 billion downloads mark on Android and iOS. The game continues to remain relevant despite being banned in one of the most lucrative markets in the world, India. PUBG Mobile has a successor in the works, too, called PUBG: New State.

NVIDIA is currently working on the GeForce RTX 3050, a new mid-range dedicated GPU that should provide thin and light laptops with more graphics performance than an AMD or Intel iGPU could. NVIDIA is yet to announce the GeForce RTX 3050, but a new leak has provided more details about it.

The idea of Discord being bought out by Microsoft in a billion-dollar deal has mostly been dismissed as clickbait fuel - until now. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the Redmond giant and chat-service stalwart are indeed in "advanced" talks concerning a potential acquisition. Therefore, the latter may not be merely trying to ramp up for a potential IPO after all.

The RTX 2060 dGPU is still a good mid-range mobile dGPU, especially now that Gateway and Walmart are offering laptops that integrate it for only US$799. This deal also includes a 15.6-inch FHD IPS display with 120 Hz refresh rate, an Intel Core i5-10300H CPU, plus 8 GB DDR4-3200 and 256 GB SSD storage that can be easily upgradable.

According to a new rumour, NVIDIA plans to release two GeForce RTX 3070 Ti cards in May, both with GDDR6X VRAM. Apparently, NVIDIA has developed 8 GB and 16 GB SKUs that can reach 21 Gbps. The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is expected to launch in May with NVIDIA's GA104-400 GPU.

ViewSonic has introduced five VX18 series gaming monitors with 165 Hz refresh rates and 1 ms response times. The series ranges from the 24-inch and 1080p VX2418-P-MHD to the 32-inch and curved VX3218-PC-MHD. All five gaming monitors rely on ViewSonic's SuperClear VA panels that provide high contrast ratios and wide colour space coverages.

The PlayStation 4 could inevitably become unusable in a few years, unless you fancy cracking it open and tinkering with it. Apparently, the console requires a working CMOS battery to play games, regardless of whether you purchased them physically or digitally. Replacing the battery is only possible for as long as the PlayStation Network supports the PS4, too.

Panasonic announces three OLED TV models that come with the 48-inch size option. These keep the HCX Pro AI Processor and custom color profiles from the flagship JZ2000 screens, but also come with Game Mode Extreme that lowers input lag down to 2.5 ms for 60 Hz signals.

One-Netbook has another handheld games console in the works, following the launch of the OneGX1 Pro last year. One-Netbook has called its latest device the One XPlayer, which it has equipped with an 8.4-inch display that has a 16:10 aspect ratio and a 1,200p resolution, along with a choice of Intel Tiger Lake processors with powerful Iris Xe iGPUs.

MSI has confirmed that it plans to increase the price of its graphics cards at a recent investor meeting. The company hasn't specified which GPUs will be subject to the price hike, but we can reasonably assume that the entirety of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3000 and AMD Radeon RX 6000 series will be affected.

A new leak from Twitter suggests that Razer is working on a laptop powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060. It is touted to ship with a 14-inch screen, too. Unfortunately, there is no information about its remaining specifications and release date at this moment.

Psyonix has just announced that it plans to bring Rocket League to mobile. Rocket League Sideswipe will feature quick two-minute 1v1 or 2v2 games, a competitive mode, and more. The game is likely to be launched later in 2021.

A new leak suggests that the upcoming Nintendo Switch Pro could be powered by a GPU based on Nvidia's newest Lovelace architecture. The SoC could be a heavily watered-down version of the Nvidia Orin automotive chipset launched in 2019.

A new report says that Nvidia has delayed the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti launch date to mid-May. No reason has been cited, but it is safe to assume that it has something to do with the global semiconductor shortage. This will inadvertently affect the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti's release, too.

Lenovo has confirmed that it will be launching another gaming smartphone, following the launch of the ASUS ROG Phone 5 earlier this month. The Legion 2 Pro will arrive on April 8 and will feature some exciting hardware, including dual fans.

Modder nicobellic300901 released "Grainy SSR Begone" for Cyberpunk 2077. The mode leverages the Reshade platform to intelligently denoise low-resolution SSR reflections in the game for enhanced visuals, without the performance hit of "Psycho" quality RTX effects.

The MSI GE76 is your best bet thus far if you want one of the fastest GeForce RTX 30 laptops in the market. Its 155 W TGP GPU allows the laptop to pull ahead in almost all cases when compared to other models with the same RTX 3080 GPU.

A new report tells us that Qualcomm is working on a Nintendo Switch-like gaming console. It will be powered by the company's in-house Snapdragon SoC and run Android 12 out of the box. The console could cost around US$300 and will be announced sometime in Q1, 2022.

The Black Shark 4 and Black shark 4 Pro gaming smartphones have been launched with interesting specifications. Key specs include a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen with a refresh rate of 144Hz, a 4,500mAh battery that supports 120W fast charging, pop-up mechanical triggers and more. Black Shark says that the phones will be launched globally soon.

The graphics card shortage has led to another curious product launch. Now, Palit has unveiled a new version of the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, which it first released in 2016. Worse still, the Pascal-based card is no cheaper than it was when Palit released it four years ago.

Retailers look to be clearing stock on the older GE75 to make room for the newer redesigned GE76. Now may be the time to jump in as the GeForce RTX 2070 Super is still very powerful even when compared to the newer mobile RTX 30 offerings.

Game Director Hugo Martin and Executive Producer Marty Stratton have confirmed that DOOM Eternal will continue to receive updates throughout the year. They could include the addition of raytracing, new Master Levels, next-generation console improvements, and Invasion Mode.

With the same looks, the Thor 380, 400, and 401 RGB mechanical keyboards by Genesis are set apart by the switches inside. The first one uses Otemu Blue, the second employs Kailh RED, and the Genesis 401 RGB sports Kailh Brown switches. The prices are 59,80 EUR (~US$71) for the 380 and 69,80 EUR (~US$83) for the 400 and 401.

According to new information from board partners, NVIDIA plans to release two new powerful Ampere-based GPUs within the next two months. The cards in question are the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti and GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, which should both offer better performance than the current RTX 3070 and RTX 3080.

The upcoming Black Shark 4 Pro has been crowned the new smartphone audio champion in DXOMARK’s rankings, pushing the Xiaomi Mi 10S into second place. The Black Shark 4 Pro impressed with its clear playback and excellent trio of microphones. The gaming smartphone with Snapdragon 888 and 144 Hz AMOLED will be launched on March 23.

Asus' new mobile-gaming flagship device, the ROG Phone 5, recently earned a shelving of shame following a catastrophic end to its round of JerryRigEverything's popular durability tests. This failure was thought to be due to a weak point caused by a secondary USB type C port found on one side; however, the ROG Phone 3 also had one, and proved much more robust. A teardown may reveal what else is going on with this new phone.

Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 1.2 is slated to correct some of the often-overlooked, but annoying aspects of the game such as the police appearing out of thin air and vehicular controls. It will also let you remap the dash ability on your keyboard. The patch is expected to arrive sometime at the end of March.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild remains one of the most beautiful games even four years after its release. However, the Nintendo Switch's limited power holds the game back, from its resolution to its often low framerates. However, a new video now shows how the triple-A title could look if it had been paired with more powerful hardware, or hardware that is capable of playing it in 8K with ray tracing enabled.

Intel’s long-awaited Xe HPG (DG2) graphics cards for serious gamers appear to be close to launching. The company has teased a scavenger hunt for March 26 based on hidden code found in a recent teaser video pointing to a launch as soon as the end of the month.

NVIDIA's game-streaming service GeForce NOW has announced the end of one membership type and the beginning of another. At US$9.99, the new Priority subscription costs more, but is also slated to add more benefits such as RTX ON and DLSS support in compatible titles. However, those with the original Founder's membership have their pricing locked in.

LG has added a feature called Fine Tune Dark Areas to over 70 TVs as it aims to reduce raised black levels, especially on OLED panels. LG intends people to use the feature when using VRR on an enabled PC or games console.

LG added a few new sliders that are meant to fix the near-black gamma problems reported on last year's models. Thus, we have the Black Stabiliser and Fine Tune Dark Areas sliders that can deal with the elevated black, but we also see features like White Stabiliser for bright highlight details in HDR and a Prevent Input Delay toggle that helps reduce input lag with 60 Hz signals.

Another paper launch this soon after the RX 6700 XT release? MSRP is expected around $350, but we are not sure if actual retail prices could be close to those figures. Navi 23 will supposedly launch under the RX 6500 moniker and should also come along with mobile versions.

Sony is giving away 11 games as part of its latest Play at Home campaign. The highlights include Horizon Zero Dawn and Ratchet & Clank, along with the likes of Astro Bot. These titles could be downloaded for free by all PlayStation users, including those who do not have a PlayStation Plus subscription.

In an interview with News18, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau confirmed that the OnePlus 9R, an "affordable" gaming smartphone, will launch in India alongside the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro. Lau stated that the 9R will be similar to the OnePlus Nord in terms of pricing but will aim to bring a flagship-level experience, particularly with regards to gaming, without breaking the bank.

Xiaomi's Black Shark premium gaming brand has announced that its new, Snapdragon 888-powered flagship is to launch on March 23, 2021 in China. The 4 is slated to have improved, "360-degree, 3D" cooling, triple rear cameras and the shoulder buttons from its 3 Pro forebear. The 2 phones are also likely to have very different designs.

The ASUS ROG Phone 5 may be one of the most powerful smartphones on the market, but it is also one of the weakest. Unfortunately for ASUS, its latest gaming smartphone does not hold up to the rigours of a JerryRigEverything durability test.

Sony has unveiled its new PS5 VR controllers that feature a completely new design and some exciting features such as finger detection, adaptive triggers, haptic feedback, and more. Its price and availability will be revealed later.

AMD plans to release its answer to Nvidia DLSS across all major gaming platforms, yet launch details are still sketchy. FidelityFX Super Resolution could be launched this year on PC at least, but AMD admits it is still pondering on which technique would best suit all gaming platforms.

Cherry has successfully shrunk its mechanical keys for ultrathin laptops to make it theoretically possible for models like the MSI GS66, Aorus 15, or Asus Zephyrus to come with integrated Cherry keyboard options. The first laptops to sport the new Cherry keys will the Alienware m15 and m17.

Linux kernel code has revealed some details about AMD’s Van Gogh Ryzen 5000 ULV mobile APU series. Apparently, the processors will offer support for 256-bit DDR5 memory, which is a step up from Renoir APUs. Unsurprisingly, the appearance of an AMD APU with greater potential graphics processing has led to renewed Microsoft handheld/Xbox portable console rumors.

The MSI Optix MAG272CQP is a 27-inch curved gaming monitor with a native WQHD resolution and 165 Hz refresh rate. The VA panel has 1 ms (MPRT) response times, a 1500R curvature and supports AMD FreeSync Premium. The Optix MAG272CQP has a USB hub too that includes a Type-C port with support for DisplayPort Alternate.

Thanks to the new UE4 DLSS plugin created in collaboration with Epic, game developers can now add DLSS support to their games in less than a day. The performance boost offered through the DLSS implementation can especially be seen in games with ray tracing enabled where the fps counts can be increased by 2.5X.

The Geekbench OpenCL tests reveal a few new specs for both the GPU and the CPU, but the actual results appear to be too low to reflect the performance of the final product. Intel is probably testing the stability of the chips, as the drivers are not optimized enough for now.

The second Doom Eternal DLC, The Ancient Gods Part 2, will be available for download starting March 18 on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Google Stadia. Much like its predecessor, it will add new gameplay elements such as monsters and weapons. Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods Part 2 also concludes the Doom Slayer's storyline introduced in Doom 2016.

It turns out that disabling the ETH hash rate limiter on the GeForce RTX 3060 is as simple as installing a GeForce development driver that NVIDIA published on its website. NVIDIA has admitted that the driver removes the limiter, contrary to claims that a secure handshake existed between multiple elements. Unfortunately for NVIDIA, the driver remains freely available to download.

Another Samsung laptop has appeared on Geekbench with a potent combination of Ampere-based GPU and Tiger Lake CPU. The possible Samsung Notebook 7 Force device featured an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti part and Intel Core i7-11800H chip, with the system producing an OpenCL result that sits very close to the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti.